Network cable melted in my home office at 2 AM last Tuesday

Was working on a deadline for a client in Austin. Had my laptop, two monitors, and a space heater all plugged into one strip. Around 2 AM I smelled burning plastic. Looked under the desk and the Cat6 cable was literally soft and warped where it ran near the heater. I lost connection mid-file upload. Had to finish the whole thing off my phone hotspot. Next day I bought a proper surge protector with spaced outlets. Anyone else had a cheap power setup bite them when they least expected it?

3 comments

3 Comments

black.oliver7d agoMost Upvoted

Dude, you're overthinking this. The heater was right there, dumping heat into the cable. Cat6 might have a high melting point but that doesn't mean it can't soften from direct radiant heat over time. You can't compare your setup to his because you don't know how close his heater was or how long it was running. The power strip being overloaded probably made things worse, sure, but the heater was still the main cause of the heat spike in that spot. I'd blame both, not just one or the other.

alext527d ago

Seems like a lot of fuss over a cable that probably just got a little warm. People act like one bad day means the whole setup is gonna catch fire. I've seen Cat6 run next to HVAC vents in commercial buildings for years without issue. If the jacket was really softening from a space heater, you'd see it get sticky or sag first, not just stop working completely. More likely the power strip was the weak link and the cable was just collateral damage. Either way, replacing a ten dollar cable and moving the heater two feet away solves the whole thing. Not exactly a mystery that needs solving.

the_felix7d ago

Honestly, are you sure the heater was the real issue here? I've had a space heater running near ethernet cables for years and never had this happen. Sounds more like your power strip was overloaded and the cable just happened to be near the heat source. The melting point on Cat6 is pretty high, like 150 degrees or something. I'd check the strip itself for damage before blaming the heater, because a space heater drawing 1500 watts on a cheap strip can make everything around it warm even without direct contact.